Ballot being seen as referendum on Olaf Scholz’s government ahead of next autumn’s general election
The AfD, which has been classified as rightwing extremist in several states by domestic intelligence agencies, is running almost neck and neck with Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats in the state, a belt of urban and rural communities that surrounds the capital, Berlin.
The ballot is being seen as a referendum on the federal government – the popularity ratings of which are at a record low – and a harbinger of the outcome of next autumn’s federal election. In a humiliating gesture to Germany’s leader, Woidke has not only criticised the federal government in his campaign, he has also completely excluded Scholz from it. The most unpopular chancellor on record has been barred from appearing at SPD rallies in the state, even though he and his wife, Britta Ernst, live in its capital, Potsdam.
The campaign has focused on issues of immigration, energy transition, fears of economic recession and Germany’s support for Ukraine, all of which are hot button issues in the former communist-run eastern Germany in particular, with theEven if the AfD wins, it is unlikely to be able to rule the state, because it will lack a majority. The other parties have put up a so-called “firewall” and have refused to work with it.
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